TAXI.com

Got my second return on my hip hop cues and need help with my mix as stated by the screener.
Help please. This is my first post for help. Don't know why I've waited so long
thanks

Gonna need a track to listen to.

https://soundcloud.com/tom-selden/hip-hadrama

Sorry about not posting a link.

Michael,
Just listened to some of your sound cloud stuff.

Great work.
Tom

take this with a grain of salt, as there are many things that can make or break a track, and when a screener says "mix isn't competitive" then you have to ask yourself:

"is this just a great track cloaked in a bad mix"

or,

"is this not "broadcast Quality"" - which is a combination of the production, the elements, the melodies, the sounds, AND the mix.

When I listen to this track I hear more of the second thing - that the entire production doesn't sound totally pro. Keep in mind, that you will always get a better critique on your pieces in this peer to peer forum by pasting the ENITRE listing into your original post as well as the link to your track. Some listings only make sense when you consider the sound palette that is in the reference tracks.

If you want to know more about broadcast quality: www.ustream.tv/recorded/31835637 and www.ustream.tv/recorded/59198143 might help.

But some things to consider:

kick drum - sounds like its got a lot of snap (nail in the paddle) but little resonant low frequencies, where most hip hop tracks are still based on 808 style kicks (sometimes doubled with other sounds) which have a characteristic long resonant sound especially when compressed hard or distorted in parallel. With hip hop tracks that might be lacking in a bass instrument, the long resonant 808 sound makes up for the lack of bottom in the mix.

drum groove - sounds a little over quantized, or quantized straight instead of having a SLIGHT swing. It doesn't make me want to move.

Strings - while a lot of hip hop tracks exhibit some degree of quantization (especially the MPC 16 note or 8th note swings) these strings sound totally wooden and stiff.

electric guitar - this is a 50/50 thing. Sometimes you hear that in tracks. But its also something that can date a track. If the ref tracks for the listing your wrote this for have prominent 80's sounding distorted electrics, then go for it. If they don't, stay away from that sound.

mix - when everything drops out, and its just strings and drums, it sounds like the ambience that we had on the previous section totally disappeared. Sometimes that works. In this case, it caught me by surprise, and not necessarily a good kind of surprise.

HTH

Thanks for the advice. The swing quantization could really help me in creating a new track and I'll also watch out for ambient changes that are too drastic. I need to keep in mind that Hip Hop is not as random as I thought. Adding an 808 kick just never occurred to me. Thanks for that pointer.
Tom

Hi Tom,
Thanks for the kind words. Makes me feel good!

Your track sounds good! It's obvious you have writing & engineering chops. The problem here is that you're not zeroed in on this genre. What you have right now is Hip Hop-ish at best.

Andy has given you a lot of good specific pointers to get you moving in the right direction. I would encourage you to listen to a lot of this genre. Immerse yourself in it! Experiment with copying what you hear verbatim to get a real feel for how it's being done & what sounds work. (NOT for listings, just for practice) Check out label releases as well as what other TAXI peeps are doing when they write for this. Check out the Forwards board to see what made the cut.

Most importantly, keep at it! If you make more Hip Hop tracks while you're working on the learning curve, everything will accelerate.

I hope I haven't come across as harsh. You obviously have the talent. Do a little homework & this will fall in your lap.

Best,
Mike

I don't think any one of us gets on the forum to just have pats on the back with no sound advice to make us better at what we do.
I do appreciate the feedback and put it to use . Actually I'm putting it to use right now on a Hip Hop listing. Whether I get it done in time is of no matter to me since there will be another listing to submit to. I'd like to get it right.
I got a forward on this one.
https://soundcloud.com/tom-selden/classic-rock-n-reel

I think Andy's feedback is pretty accurate. It's interesting, I just listened to the second track you posted, the more roots rocky one. Try to step back and listen to the parts you laid down on some of those guitar parts in that - they have some soul and some real feel in them. Try to do the same thing with your hip hop tracks. For me, that is what's lacking in that hip hop track. It needs to make you feel something when you listen to it. Play the parts with that same kind of mind set you used when you laid down that guitar in the rock track - make the parts and the instruments and overall feel communicate something more visceral. At it's root, for me it's the same "engine" inside of you, just applied to a different style of music. That thing that makes you close and eyes when listening to a song and nod your head. Song that pops into my head right now, for whatever reason, is 50 Cent - In Da Club. Pull that up on YouTube and listen to it. Straight simple beat, but he used a swinged quantize, as Andy indicated, and then added strings in a simple way that inexplicably makes you nod your head. Just works. Little bit of simple guitar added in there mixes it up a bit in some parts. Play with parts until that kind of magic happens.